U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Technical Report
Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, 2005
July 2005, NCJ 209333
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This file is text only without graphics and many of the tables.
A Zip archive of the tables in this report in spreadsheet format
(.wk1) and the full report including tables and graphics in
.pdf format are available from:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/jagp05.htm
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Matthew J. Hickman, Ph.D.
BJS Statistician
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Highlights
* The total FY 2005 JAG funds for allocation was $495.5
million.
* The five largest total State allocations, in millions of
dollars, included California ($58.4), Texas ($35.2), Florida
($32.8), New York ($30.1), and Illinois ($22.4).
* 2,190 local governments were eligible for awards. The
five largest eligible awards, in millions of dollars,
included New York City ($8.7), Los Angeles ($5.7),
Chicago ($5.7), Philadelphia ($3.1), and Houston ($2.7).
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As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005,
the 108th Congress merged the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant
Program (Byrne) with the Local Law Enforcement Block
Grant Program (LLEBG) to establish the Edward Byrne
Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG). The
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) administers the JAG
program, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
calculates the JAG formulas.
The total funds made available for FY 2005 JAG awards
was $495.5 million. The program has six purpose areas
under which funds may be awarded:
* Law enforcement programs
* Prosecution and court programs
* Prevention and education programs
* Corrections and community corrections programs
* Drug treatment programs
* Planning, evaluation, and technology improvement
programs
JAG funds can be used to pay for personnel, overtime, and
equipment.
This BJS Technical Report describes the steps in the JAG
formula calculation process and presents summary results
of the FY 2005 formula calculations.
Formula calculation process
There are six steps in the JAG formula calculation process:
Step 1: Initial allocation to States and territories
In the first step, initial allocations to States and
territories are calculated. Half of the available funds are
allocated based on the State's or Territory's share of
violent crime, and half of the funds are allocated based on
the State's or Territory's share of population. Violent crime
is computed as a 3-year average using figures published in
the FBI's annual Crime in the United States. Population
figures are from the Census Bureau.
For the FY 2005 JAG calculations, crime data were for
2000-02, and population data were for 2002.
Examples:
* California accounts for 14.6% of total violent crime and
12.0% of total population. California's initial allocation
is 14.6% of 50% of $495.5 million plus 12.0% of 50% of
$495.5 million, or about $66 million.
* Vermont accounts for 0.05% of total violent crime and
0.21% of total population. Vermont's initial allocation is
0.05% of 50% of $495.5 million plus 0.21% of 50% of 495.5
million, or about $637,000.
Step 2: De minimus awards
All States and territories receive a de minimus award equal
to 0.25% of the total JAG allocation ($1,238,750 each, or
$69,370,000 total, for FY 2005). If a State's or Territory's
initial allocation based on crime and population (from Step
1) is less than the de minimus, the State or territory
receives the de minimus as their total JAG allocation.
Examples:
* California's initial allocation of $66 million exceeds the
de minimus value, so California will receive the de minimus
plus an award based on their share of total violent crime
and population.
* Vermont's initial allocation of $637,000 is less than the
de minimus value, so Vermont's total JAG allocation will be
$1,238,750.
Step 3: Recalculation of crime and population based
awards
The crime and population data for States and territories
receiving only the de minimus award (from Step 2) are
removed from the pool, and remaining JAG funds (less the
de minimus awards) are reallocated based on violent crime
and population. The resulting award is then added to the
de minimus.
Examples:
* Vermont received only the de minimus award, so Vermont's
crime and population data are removed from the pool.
* After removing the de minimus States, California accounts
for 14.7% of total violent crime and 12.1% of population.
Their new JAG allocation is equal to 14.7% of 50% of
$426.13 million plus 12.1% of 50% of $426.13 million, plus
the de minimus award, or about $58.3 million.
Step 4: 60/40 split to State and local governments
Except for the Territories and the District of Columbia,
60% of the total allocation to a State is retained by
State government, and 40% is set-aside for local
governments.
Examples:
* California State government retains 60% of $58.3 million,
or about $35 million. The remaining 40%, or $23.3 million,
is set aside for distribution to local governments in
California.
* Vermont State government retains 60% of the de minimus,
or $743,250. The remaining 40%, or $495,500, is set aside
for distribution to local governments in Vermont.
Step 5: Calculation of State "dollars per crime" and
"threshold"
Awards to local governments are based on their share of
the average of violent crimes the State reported to the
FBI over 3 years. The minimum local award amount under
the JAG program is $10,000. To determine whether a local
government is eligible for a JAG award, it is necessary to
calculate the amount of crime for a minimum award in that
State.
Dividing the total local set-aside for a State by the 3-year
average of violent crimes reported within the State results
in the number of dollars available for each violent crime.
Dividing the minimum $10,000 award amount by the number of
dollars available per crime results in the threshold amount
of crime necessary in order to be eligible for a JAG award.
Examples:
* California has $23.3 million set-aside for local
governments. The sum of 3-year average violent crimes
reported by jurisdictions in California is 210,215 crimes.
Dividing the set-aside by total crime results in the number
of dollars available for each crime: $23.3 million/210,215
crimes = $111 per crime. Therefore, a local California
jurisdiction needs a 3-year average of at least 90 violent
crimes ($10,000/$111) to be eligible for a JAG award.
* Vermont has $495,500 set-aside for local governments.
The sum of 3-year average violent crimes reported is 640
crimes. Dollars per crime in Vermont equal $495,500/640
crimes or $774 per crime. The threshold is 13 violent
crimes ($10,000/$774) to be eligible for a JAG award.
Step 6: Determination of local governments eligible for
JAG awards
The JAG legislation specifies that allocations to local
governments are based on their share of the total violent
crime reported by like units of government within the
State. However, the ‘Transitional Rule' at § 505(d)(2)(B)
specifies that allocations to units of local government
for FY 2005 through FY 2007 will follow the LLEBG formula.
Within each State, local governments meeting the threshold
for the minimum JAG award are eligible for an award based
on the local government's share of the State total 3-year
average violent crimes reported to the FBI.
Examples:
* Oakland, California, has a 3-year average of 5,343
violent crimes, or 2.5% of all violent crimes reported by
jurisdictions in California. Oakland exceeds the State
threshold of 90 violent crimes. They are eligible for
2.5% of the $23.3 million set-aside for local governments
in California, or about $590,000.
* The City of Morristown, Vermont, has a 3-year average
of five violent crimes. They do not meet the State
threshold of 13 violent crimes, so they are ineligible
for a JAG award. Their crime -- less than 1% of all
violent crime in Vermont -- accounts for about $4,000 of
award funds. These funds are transferred to the State for
redistribution.
Results of the FY 2005 JAG formula
In FY 2005, $288.9 million of the $495.5 million available
was allocated to the 50 States. In addition, the District of
Columbia was eligible for $3.0 million, and Puerto Rico was
eligible for $5.9 million. American Samoa, Guam, the
Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands were each
eligible for $1.2 million.
In FY 2005 $192.6 million was allotted to local governments.
A total of 2,190 local governments met the threshold number
of crimes necessary to receive a JAG award and were eligible
for $163.7 million. The balance of unawarded local allocated
funds ($28.9 million) have been returned to the States for
redistribution to State police and local governments.
Additional JAG provisions
Passthrough requirement
States may only retain award amounts that bear the same
ratio of "total expenditures on criminal justice by the
State government in the most recently completed fiscal
year to ... the total expenditure on criminal justice by
the State government and units of local government within
the State in such year."
Disparate jurisdictions
In some cases, a disparity may exist between funding
eligibility of a county and associated municipalities. A
potential disparity exists when a unit of local government
(such as a county) bears more than 50% of the costs of
prosecution or incarceration that arise in association with
violent crimes reported by a constituent unit of local
government (such as a municipality), and funds eligible
to any one constituent unit of local government exceeds
150% of the amount eligible to the larger unit of local
government, or 400% for multiple units of government.
To qualify for payment, the unit of local government,
together with any such specified geographically contiguous
local government, must submit a joint application to the
Attorney General for the aggregate of funds allocated to
the units of local government.
Provisions not yet implemented
The ‘Transitional Rule' found at § 505(d)(2)(B) specifies
that allocations to units of local government for FY 2005
through FY 2007 will follow the LLEBG formula. In the
absence of congressional action, the following provisions
will take effect for FY 2008 and subsequent JAG
calculations.
Non-reporting jurisdictions
Local governments that have not reported at least 3 years
of Part I crime data to the FBI within the immediately
preceding 10 years will be ineligible for JAG funding.
Local allocations based on crime
in like units of government
The allocation of JAG funds to local governments will be
based on the local government's share of 3-year average
violent crimes reported by like units of government (for
example, other cities, townships, and counties) within the
State.
Maximum allocation to local units of government
Units of local government may not receive a JAG award that
"exceeds such units total expenditures on criminal justice
services for the most recently completed fiscal year for
which data are available." Award amounts in excess of
total expenditures "shall be allocated proportionately
among units of local government whose allocations ... do
not exceed their total expenditures on such services."
Methodology
The data used to calculate the allocation amounts are
provided by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)
program and the Governments Division at the Census
Bureau. The most recent State-level violent crime data are
obtained from the FBI's Crime in the United States (CIUS)
on an annual basis. Data for local jurisdictions are
obtained in an electronic format directly from the FBI.
For FY 2005, data through 2002 were used.
The sum of the UCR violent crimes for all local governments
within a State will not equal the amount reported by that
State in the FBI's annual publication. BJS uses the
published UCR State figures, which represent official FBI
estimates of crime in a State. The FBI imputes crime data
to adjust for nonreporting local agencies. These imputed
values attributed to nonreporting local jurisdictions do
not appear on the electronic datafile provided to BJS
and are not used in the formula calculation.
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The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical
agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Lawrence A.
Greenfeld is director.
Matthew J. Hickman, BJS Statistician, wrote this report
under the supervision of Steven K. Smith. Matthew
Hanson of the Bureau of Justice Assistance reviewed
the report. Tom Hester of BJS edited it.
July 2005, NCJ 209333
Office of Justice Programs
Partnerships for Safer Communities
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov
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Sources of additional information
The text of H.R. 3036, "Department of Justice
Appropriations Authorization Act, FY 2004 through
2006," can be found at the Library of Congress website
. Refer to Title II, Subpart 1,
"Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant
Program." Formula details are found in Section 505. The
provisions of H.R. 3036 are implemented by Public Law
108-447, "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005." PL
108-447 can be found at the Library of Congress
website.
More information about the JAG program and application
process can be found on the Bureau of Justice Assistance
(BJA) website: . The
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG)
Program was proposed to streamline justice funding and
grant administration. Administered by the BJA, the JAG
Program allows States, tribes, and local governments to
support a broad range of activities to prevent and control
crime, based on local needs and conditions. JAG blends
the previous Byrne Formula and Local Law Enforcement
Block Grant (LLEBG) Programs.
End of file
07/11/02 ih